Armageddon?
by ShimmeringRivers
Summary: HIATUS - LOST MY FILES, WILL UPDATE ONCE REWRITTEN! Rated T just in case, it's pretty bloody in places :S. when a new threat arises and an entire population is wiped out, it's up to the 00 cyborgs to prevent the world's end. better than it sounds, plz read! one couple 9x3. CHAPTER 3 UP!
1. Chapter 1: Beginning or End?

Yes, I've re-written this chapter at long last, it was about time it got re-done and hopefully continued, still the same story I just corrected my horrific writing skills :P most of it was okay I just added and edited so please enjoy the re-written chapter 1 of C009: Armageddon? Thankyou~! ^^

~Rivers

CHAPTER 1: BEGINNING OR END?

Screams of terror filled the night as he ran on, never stopping, not for a single thing…nothing could stop him, not now.

"**They're here!"**

"**Who?"**

"**Where?"**

"…**above us!"**

"**Quickly, we have to get out of here!"**

"**This way!"**

The girl quickly led the small, wounded group from the crumbling, ruined building and into the blood-stained streets outside.

"**Wait!"** she stopped and turned, looking up into the reddish-black sky of the night. _'How strange, it seems almost as though the sky, too, is dyed with blood…'_ she shuddered as she thought to herself about the slaughter that the team had seen earlier.

"**There, look!"** one of the tall men whom was following her shouted, pointing towards the roof, where a shadow stood.

"**Is** **it **_**them**_**?"** another asked.

"**The things from earlier?"** a shortest one asked.

The blond-haired girl shook her head,

"**No, it isn't the enemy…something else…I sense a presence... It seems familiar but I don't know why, and it's not hostile…"** She trailed off, clutching her hand to the necklace she wore around her neck.

As the small group continued onward, they reached an old bridge, stretching across the harbour. It was damaged in the attack, and was now crumbling.

"**We'll need to be careful, everyone"** one of the men said, as he carefully stepped onto the bridge. The rest of the group all nodded and stepped out onto the bridge.

"**Look out!"** a voice shouted from somewhere behind them, seconds before a large, hostile airship appeared out from behind a crumbling skyscraper, firing a missile at the bridge, which shattered beneath them upon the explosion of the warhead. The small team tumbled over the ledges as the bridge gave way beneath their weight and the shockwave of the explosion.

"**Ugh! Not good…!"** the man with white eyes remarked, struggling to hold onto both the frail ledge of remaining ground and his comrade.

"**This is bad!"** cried the short one.

"**Well, I wouldn't call it **_**good**_**…"** the tallest man replied in his deep voice.

"**what do we d-…"** the girl began, but the ledge she was holding crumbled away, beneath her hand.

"**003!"** Jet was about to jump and catch her, but someone had already jumped down and caught her hand…

A stunned silence settled over the group for a moment.

"**Joe?"** 003 exclaimed **"It's really you! where have you been?"** she asked, hurriedly and between gasps for air.

"…" 009 remained silent.

"**009, what's wrong?"** 002 asked.

"…**can't hold you for long…climb up!"** he said, wincing in pain from his wounded shoulder.

"**What…?"** 003 was going to ask before a small drop of blood spattered upon her cheek. 003 gasped in shock and looked up at 009 **"009, you're bleeding!"**

"…**don't worry…I'll be fine, it's not as bad as it could be..."** he replied sharply, straining to hold 003. **"darn it…! I can't hold you, I'll have to throw you up to the ledge!"** he said.

"**Are you kidding? You'll injure yourself worse if you try to throw me with an injured arm!"** 003 exclaimed, staring, horrified, at the amount of blood flowing from the wound on 009's shoulder. Hardly what she would call 'not that bad'.

"**This** **is no time to be arguing with me, Francoise!"** 009 yelled, rather harshly.

003 flinched, and then Joe threw her upwards to the ledge before she could recover from that to make another argument.

"**Ow!"** She landed, quite heavily, on the ground above. After remaining stunned for a moment, she looked over the edge to see if the others were alright.

009 was gripping his bleeding shoulder, in pain. **"Joe! Are you alright?"** Francoise shouted. 009 looked up at her and gave her a quick, pained smile.

"**Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, 003"**

"**Not meaning to interrupt you two, but can you help us out, our grip won't last forever!"** 004 called over to the two.

"**As much as I would like to help, I can't at the moment…"** 009 began **"You can, though, 003"** he said, looking back up at her. She nodded, reaching down her hand. 009 gripped her hand and, with her help, pulled himself up. Once safely on the ground, Joe stood up and ran over to help 005, whom was not far off. Once the whole team was back on the safety of solid ground, 003 walked over to where 009 stood.

"**Hey, would you like me to bandage your shoulder?"**

"**No, I'll be fine"** he said, smiling **"But thanks for offering, anyway"**

"**Well, it looks like you finally caught up with us!"**004 remarked, folding his arms.

"**What took you so long, 009. you had us all worrying!"** he said, looking as stoic as ever.

"**I guess I got myself into a bit of trouble…but it doesn't matter, I've found you now, so it's behind us"** 009 replied, smiling weakly.

"**You look tired, you want to take a breather for a while?"** 002 asked as he walked over.

"**I'll** **be fine, I don't need to take a rest"** 009 replied. **"Actually, I'd prefer we get moving as soon as possible"** he suggested.

"**Hmm…if you're sure you aren't going to collapse on us, half way back!"**004 remarked, jokingly.

"**Oh please...I'm not about to 'collapse half way back' as you put it"** 009 said, laughing a bit.

"**well, since the bridge is out, how do we get out of here now?" **008 asked, stepping forward and nodding towards the broken bridge, where they had so nearly fallen.

"…**there is one way we can get to the other side, but it could be risky…I guess we could give it a try though."** 009 started walking a gestured for the others to follow. 002 and 004 exchanged glances and shrugged, walking to catch up to their friend, who had now stopped not far from the edge of the bridge, waiting for the others.

After a whiles walking, the group finally arrived at the edge of what had once been a tranquil river, now flowing Red with the blood of the millions who had been so cruelly slain by their old adversary...how he had so suddenly gained the power for such mass destruction none of them knew...

"…**eerie…I've never seen such a merciless display of Power…even from **_**him**_**. This is just terrible…"** 007 said, looking on over the destroyed city beyond. The attack had seen everything, within a good mile's radius of the original strike, obliterated and as if that wasn't murderous enough, they had unleashed THEM upon the now obliterated city and what few survivors were left...The bodies of many littered the streets; it made continuing forward very hard for the group, not only because the battered frames made walking hard but it was mentally and emotionally testing for ANY who might see the scene.

009 turned away from the horrific scene before the group and continued to walk. His shoulder was numb now, after the loss of blood he had suffered, trying to find his team. He would have already collapsed by now if he wasn't urged forward by the desire to get his friends to safety.

The others saw as he left and followed quickly, trying hard not to look at the massacre that spread around them in every direction. As they walked Francoise noted that 009 was almost constantly looking into the alleys that lined the streets, and he often stopped and checked behind them. He was edgy, and usually when he thought someone was following, he was right...he had some strange way of knowing even when her radar-like senses failed her.

"**not meaning to nag or anything, but…when do we stop walking, I'm gettin' tired!"** 002 asked, stretching and yawning.

009 looked over his shoulder at his red-haired friend.

"**shh! Keep it down!" **he snapped, glaring slightly at 002.

"**okay, no need to show those fangs of yours, geez!"** 002 replied, flinching slightly at the reaction he had received, 009 was usually calm and not easily angered...something must be really wrong if he was this edgey and agitated.

"**there is good need, 002…" **009 paused and again checked behind them as some crumbling cement from a building nearby tumbled to the floor, startling him **"we aren't safe here, now come on. Quickly, we haven't got far to go"** Joe turned back to where they were headed, running now, although slowly. The buildings beside them grew fewer and fewer as they came closer and closer to the edge of the city.

009 stopped here and turned to the others **"it'll be dark here, and there are still some of those…things in here, we should be careful"** he lead the group into the debris-littered, half collapsed tunnel that marked the exit of the city.

As they walked, sounds echoed on the concrete walls, giving the dingy place a sinister air. Many times they would jump at nothing, the darkness made walking slow, with all the debris scattered across the ground they had to dodge what they could see and hope not to stumble on something they couldn't.

003 hopped over a few pieces of rubble to catch up with Joe, grabbing his arm and hugging it tightly, as she often did when she was frightened. Joe would often comfort and tell her it was okay, but this time he kept quiet, continuing to step over the crumbling remnants of what had been the roof and walls of the tunnel. As the 8 cyborgs came closer to the exit, a small hiss and the eerie, slimy, slithering sound of one of the creatures coming closer signified the arrival of trouble…and in the dark of the mostly-unlit tunnel, there was no chance that they could properly fight opponents such as these...

The flickering, half hanging light on the roof above them gave them little light as it flickered softly, every now and then. As the spine-chilling noises drew closer and closer to them, the cyborgs huddled in a small group, one facing every drection so as to prevent being caught before they could react, if that was at all possible...

The creature seemed to be right next to them, from the sounds, but yet they couldn't see it, the light was too dim and limited here, there was no way they could fight here.

009 remembered his fight here before, in this same tunnel. This was where he had been wounded before, he had been lucky to get a chance to run...then as he remembered what had happened, it hit him.

"**scatter! They're above us!"** the team responded instantly and dived out of the way, narrowly dodging the slimy masses that dropped like spears from the cracked slabs of concrete above them.

The creatures gurgled and hissed; even in the flashing, infrequent light their distinct shapes were easily definable. The long, globule body wavering like jelly, and the taloned arms, pulling free of the blob of slime and digging into the floor, the massive, eye-less head swaying from side-to-side in a mocking dance-like pattern, as it half-dragged half-slithered its way closer. 009 froze stiff, as he watched more and more of the toothy, murderous grins gleaming in the dim light.

There had to be more than 23 of them here…there was no way this encounter was fluke…this was a planned ambush. These creatures **never** traveled in these kinds of numbers...not of their own accord...their masters must have planned this, anticipating their decision to leaave the city using this route after the bridge was destroyed. Joe fought them as he could, but was quickly cornered by at least 7 of the massive beasts. The rest of the team was backed-up against walls and rubble as well, it wouldn't be long before the creatures lashed out at them all. The venom in the monsters' bites would kill them quickly, and then it would be over…


	2. Chapter 2: Against the odds

Dunno how good my grammar was in my edited chapter one, soI'll apologise in advance if it wasn't or isn't in this one XD

now then, for the re-vamped chapter two! (if anyone's actually reading this garbage, thankyou! XD I so have confidence in my writing abilities :P) enjoy!

~Rivers

CHAPTER 2: AGAINST THE ODDS…

Only a few short moments later, it seemed the battle was over...most of the cyborgs were beaten and those that remained standing were severely weakened. Everyone except 004 and 009 was unconscious now, pinned down by sharp talons with dripping, deadly fangs hovering just inches above them, poised to strike.

Things weren't looking good, 004 was already getting tired and the loss of blood was starting to get at 009...his movements were slow and his breathing was heavy and shaky. Still no enemies lay dead…

"**darn! There's just too many to get a chance to attack, they cut us off every time!"** 004 said, almost choking on the dusty, stagnant air. **"just how do we beat these things!"** he fired another few rounds of bullets into the twisting crowd of beasts before him.

"**we have to find a way to distract them! We can't fight them here, we've got to lure them outside where we can take them out…"** 009 replied, his voice weakening towards the end of his sentence. He gripped his shoulder, still bleeding badly, his eyesight was blurring _'no! I can't give up here, the others will be killed!'_ he shook his head, as if to ward off the weariness that gripped him, and readied himself for the creatures' inevitable attack.

The creatures pulled themselves closer, their slimy bodies oozing and glistening in the dim, flickering light...purple-black goo gleaming over smooth iridescent scale. 009 could see the tunnel's exit not far down the tunnel on his left, but with the beasts crowding around him in their tight circle, there was no way through.

'_damn…what can we do now?'_ he thought, looking around him for something to use to his advantage. A loud, un-natural cry –a strange mix between a squeal similar to an eagle, the hiss of a snake and a croaky, spine-chilling howl- alerted Joe to his attacker, the creature towered above him, its jaws open at a seemingly impossible angle. The venom already was dripping from the rows and rows of fangs that lined the creatures jaw and in mere seconds the creature would crush down on its prey. It noted the fear in the eyes of its target and jiggled its head in a mocking dance, the strangely shaped jaw seeming to grin evilly.

009 saw the opportunity and seized the short moment it gave him to make his move. He launched himself off the wall behind him, landing a powerful kick to the beast's exposed neck. Shrieking and hissing, the monster recoiled, lashing it's head back and forth, forcing the other creatures back.

009 noted a gap in their formation and raced for the chance, narrowly getting past as one of the beasts swung a mighty, clawed hand at him. He vaulted over a piece of rubble that blocked the way and turned to face the beasts. He was now just meters from the end of the tunnel and the light here let him see what he was up against.

"**hey! I'm the one you want, come and get me! I dare ya'!"** 009 taunted, stepping back as the beasts launched themselves at him in fury. He dodged a few more attacks, a deadly bite missing his leg by a small, lucky inch. _'that was too close! I have to get rid of these things quickly!'_ he dived away from one of the creatures' claws, ducking behind it and shooting his blaster at the back of its head.

The shot pierced the creatures weak flesh on the back of its head and left a fatal wound behind. It gave a final, desperate swipe of its tail and weakly hiss-shrieked in defeat, before it fell to the ground, crashing down on top of one of its allies. The ground around the bodies was flooded with a pool of the beasts' silver-blue blood. 009 jumped back as far as he could, avoiding the blood that now seeped into the cracks in the tar under-foot. He knew all too well, from the burns on his face and arms, what that blood was.

The creatures around the body were lashing their heads and shrieking ferociously, the acid-like blood burning at their soft flesh and distracting them from their prey. The leading beast gave a mighty, guttural roar and the rest followed as it left, growling fiercely, as if to say "you haven't seen the last of us, weakling!". 009 wasted no time in seeing to the others, he ran back into the darkness of the tunnel and found that the others were already awake, helping each other to their feet and dusting the dirt from their uniforms.

"**is everyone alright?"** 009 asked, helping 008 off the floor and then turning to the rest of the group.

"**we're all okay, just some scratches at worst, maybe a bit bruised"** 002 smiled, looking at his friend. **"are you? You took on all of those things on your own, you weren't hurt any worse were you?"**

009 shook his head and smiled weakly **"nah, I'm alright. Just a bit worn out"** he replied, brushing a stray strand of his fringe from his eyes **"I didn't finish all of them off, but the surviving ones ran, I don't they'll be back for a while yet" **he said, looking in the direction of the tunnel exit, _'at least for now we're somewhat safe'_ he thought to himself.

Francoise walked over to Joe and put a hand on his shoulder.

"**so shall we go? Before they come back, I mean. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't think I want to face those things again…"** she said, looking back at the others.

"**yeah, I'd rather leave before they come back, let's go!"** 004 agreed, walking to take the lead as the team walked out of the tunnel.

009 stayed at the back of the group as they walked on, for the first few minutes, he kept up okay, but his pace slowed after a while, the weariness he had suppressed before getting back at him, slowly.

002 and 003 were ahead of him and were the first to notice that he had slowed. They exchanged worried glances for a moment before they dropped back to walk next to him.

"**hey 009, you're slowing down, pal. You sure you're okay?" **002 asked, fixing his almost black eyes on his friend.

009 looked at 002 when he spoke, at the asking of the question 009 smiled and nodded

"**yes, I'm fine, really!"** he said, trying to be as convincing as possible, though he knew it probably wouldn't work. He was getting tired and the wound on his shoulder was still painful, even after Francoise had bandaged it, earlier...insisting on doing so after the fight in the tunnel.

"**oh, yes. You're **_**always**_** fine! really Joe, if something's wrong let us know, okay!"** 002 remarked.

"**you should know by now that we know when you're lying, 009, you make it too obvious!"** 003 spoke now, her arms folded. She gave Joe that scolding look and shook her head **"if you need a rest, just say so, alright?"**

"**I can't hide anything from you guys, can I?"** 009 replied, laughing slightly **"I guess you know me too well. Don't worry about it, I'll be okay for the moment"** he said, looking ahead again as they walked on.

Another hour drifted by, the silent streets making time seem frozen, though it moved on unhindered. The smell of blood and ash made the air so thick that the cyborgs were struggling not to choke as they breathed. They were at the very edge of the city now, the buildings were few as were the bodies of the victims, thankfully...but they didn't need to be outside the city, they needed to be on the other side of the river.

The moon was uncovered now, and its gentle silver light lay over their surroundings, lightening the mood a bit…at least it made things less dark and unnerving...and much more pale moon-blue than blood-red.

004 stopped and turned to the group. **"well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting tired, we should probably stop and rest as soon as we find somewhere safe…"** he said, looking around at their surroundings.

The team stopped behind him, 009 still at the back. He was breathing pretty heavily by now and 002 had stayed standing next to him in case he was too tired and collapsed.

"**I think we should try a little further up the edge of the river…those creatures won't venture much farther than the edge of the city"** he said, pointing upriver.** "we can't be sure how far they'll go, but we'll be safer than in the middle of the city"**

004 nodded and folded his arms **"think you're okay to go that far? You look pretty worn out"** 009 nodded, reaching up to grip his wounded shoulder, which was hurting pretty badly again.

The team followed 004 down the river banks, leaving behind the city and finding themselves in the woodlands. This place seemed almost completely unharmed compared to the city, there were very few dead animals on the forest floor and the trees were constantly rustling as birds and other tree-going animals caught sight of the cyborgs and darted away.

009 stopped here and looked behind them, before turning back to the group, who had stopped to wait **"I think we should be safe here, we don't want to go too far off course"** he said, he was referring to the fact that they weren't looking to get away from the city, they were just trying to get to the other side of the river.

The others nodded and gratefully sat down to rest, all of them sore and bleeding slightly from minor grazes. 009 did the same, giving a sigh of relief as he did **"well, at least we got out of that mess alive…I wonder whether there'll be more trouble tomorrow?"** he said, looking up at the sky…it seemed almost like nothing had ever happened here, it was kind of eerie in its own way.

002 looked at Joe as he spoke and grinned with confidence **"we can be sure that there will, but those turkeys aren't gonna bring us down so easily! We can take 'em!"** he shouted, laughing at the thought.

009 looked back at his friend and smiled **"fair enough. Try to keep it down though, 002, we still have to consider that these 'turkeys' are actually pretty smart and have much better hearing than you and me...they might follow us out here. We have to be careful"**

"**009's right, we can't afford to take any risks right now, we're all tired and sore and need rest before we can fight off any more of those creatures." **003 agreed, looking around the group as she spoke. She got up when she had finished speaking and walked over to Joe, sitting back down next to him. **"you looked like your shoulder was hurting before, are you okay?" **she asked, looking at him with worried eyes.

Joe nodded **"I'm fine, but yes it was hurting before. I'll be fine with some rest, it's not too bad now"** he smiled at the young woman before lying back to relax, giving a rather exhausted sigh **"we'll be getting across the river tomorrow, it'll take some doing, so you'll need to rest tonight at some point"** he said, subtly changing the subject. **"keep your eyes out though, we don't want to be caught off-guard"**

The team all nodded and agreed on 002 keeping watch first, and after an hour he would choose someone else to take over for him. The night was quiet and uneventful for the first few shifts, but would it stay that way…?


	3. Chapter 3: Crossing the River

hooray! finally the third chapter! how long has this been a work in progress? _ I can't believe my writing skills (or lack there of) when I wrote chapter two (I found so many wrrors it wasn't funny...) so hopefully the new one and these following chapters aren't as DISGUSTINGLY BADLY WRITTEN as the originals _ lol, I am so happy with my writing XD yeah, do enjoy this brand new chapter! (if anyone is actually still reading this, or has just picked it up)

Please note that the large set of Italics at the beginning is a flashback :) just so you know

~Rivers

CHAPTER 3: CROSSING THE RIVER.

When the sun began to rise, Joe was on his shift for the watch and though he remained alert to his surroundings, he couldn't help but let his mind wander slightly as he thought about what had happened...

_The city was busy...as always...the streets bustling, the cars' horns wailing loudly in the streets and alleys. They knew that Black Ghost was planning something here...but what? Surely something big...they wouldn't have chosen such a large 'audience' if it wasn't. They waited...and waited...and waited...eventually there was a pause in the streets and people began to murmur amongst themselves, traffic stopping and drivers poking heads out of windows as people began to point to the skies, where the faintest of ripples in the sky caught their attention...it was like a stone had fallen in water...for more than just the sky, the ripples started small and got bigger; people started murmuring and by now were beginning to get anxious, children whimpering and dogs whining...people demanding that someone explain what was happening._

_Suddenly there was the sound of approaching engines, people though at first the military were here to examine the strange phenomena, then a huge warship of unprecedented size emerged from above the clouds just over the city, people began to scream and run...panic flared through the city as the warship's hatch opened on it's hull...and from the open hatch toppled a warhead bigger than any the world had seen before. People ran for the nearest place they could think that they would be safe...but the blast was so powerful it wiped out everything in it's path...as the shockwave struck buildings, they just crumpled under it's force and the heat from the explosion melted and singed anything within a few hundred __metres__ of the strike point. Then, as the survivors crawled screaming and crying from the wreckage and fire, there was a sound like breaking glass, only on a colossal scale..._

_The ripple in the sky cracked open like a ball might burst with too much air forced inside. The 00 cyborgs, who had been watching from the skies as all this happened, helpless to prevent something happening so quickly, watched as dark shapes began to fall from the rift, spattering on the ground as though they were just balls of paint, before gathering up into the full shape of their being: The creatures were large –at least twice the average human's height- with slick, iridescent black scales coated in a mushy, stinking, purple-black secretion, with long, thin arms which could curl up inside the body and eyeless, snake-like heads with bulky, under-bitten jaws and rows upon rows of sharp, venomous fangs, so large that the lips didn't meet. They had no tongues and gave off a loud, eerie cry mixed between a croaky howl, a throaty hiss and a high pitched shriek...they heard twice as good as an owl and smelled as good as a blood hound, their lack of eyes made up for by a sense of touch powerful enough to feel the footsteps of a mouse 150 metres away...a fierce, cruel predator with no remorse._

_The cyborgs had immediately entered the city, attempting to battle the creatures as best they could, but as they proved to strong they had been forced to flee, their leader being separated in the fray...they had hidden in an office building amongst strong-smelling ash and corpses to avoid the creatures tracking them, the fire crackle interfereing with their hearing making the cyborgs invisible...soon they had left, and had shortly after nearly been killed trying to cross the main bridge of the city...where their leader and friend had returned to them; wounded, weakened and anxious..._

Joe was snapped from his thoughts when a loud crunch in the bushes alerted him. He immediately jumped to his feet, calling to the others who woke instantly and grabbed their weapons as they hastily (though sleepily) got their feet. Despite their fears, what emerged from the bushes was no more than a lost, dying dog which had clearly been attacked by the creatures; it's lips and snout were burnt badly from it's attacks on the creatures, their acid-blood eating away at the poor dog's flesh, and it's body torn and bloodied. The poor creature collapsed with a weak huff, wheezing as it tried to breathe...003 immediately ran over to the poor dog, cooing softly to it to urge it to sleep as the others watched, some seeming stoic as always, others seeming unnerved and a few looking almost in tears at the sight of the innocent creature's suffering. Eventually the dog surrendered to sleep, its wheezing breath ceasing and its eyes glazing over. 003 stood after a moment, seeming to be in tears over the creature.

"**it's bad enough that so many are dead..." **she said, sniffling sadly. **"but to think that there must be survivors suffering and terrified somewhere in that city...it's sickening..."** she turned to huddle into Joe's chest, the young man offering a very brief hug to the woman before urging her, gently, to let go so they could get moving before anything they DIDN'T want to see came following after the now at rest dog. The others unanimously agreed, following behind 009 back the way they had come the previous night, back into the city a bit to find another way across the river.

"**this would be SO much easier if the dolphin was more inconspicuous..."** Jet complained, glancing around them as though he were as paranoid as Joe seemed to be at the moment. His comment earned a half-hearted glare from said young man but there was no additional comment made. The streets were quieter than ever, many of the fires having died out over night, though the sheer heat of the air threatened to send the still-glowing embers ablaze again. The group followed quietly behind Joe as he lead them to the other route across the river he had mentioned...and as he had suggested when he had met up with them, it wouldn't be easy, nor safe...

"**...let's get this straight...we're going to walk halfway there through a partially-flooded under-water tunnel which is probably INFESTED with the goobers...then we are going to climb out through a collapsed area of the roof and hop across rubble partway and then improvise...?"** 007 asked, looking as comically object to the idea as he was the every other.

"**that's pretty well summed it up, 007"** Joe replied, not seeming particularly thrilled himself, but clearly more willing than most of the others. **"I realise it's not the most conventional, nor safe of methods, but since that bridge-"** he pointed to the one in question in the distance. **"crumbled down on top of itself, there's no other route...if the tunnel here was still complete it would be a whole lot easier...but think about it, the part that broke was a small section above water so the whole thing didn't flood...at least there IS another way across"** 009 commented, his point managing to shut his British companion's trap. He tentatively led the way into the tunnel –just as dark and eerie as the previous one- and though the light here was slightly better since the water reflected what little light there was very well, it was still particularly dark and certainly no place to be caught by the enemy.

"**I vote we move quickly!"** 006 called, skittering ahead of them.

"**and I second that"** 008 replied, glancing around nervously as the creaking of unstable rocks and dripping of water in the tunnel echoed off of the thick concrete walls. 005 just grunted agreement, following closely behind his friends, his head nearly touching the roof due to his height.

The team had been cramped up in that small, dark tunnel for a bit more than an hour now, trying to navigate the maze of rubble and water in the dim lighting. 004 was just about to ask how much further ahead to opening was when Joe suddenly jumped back with a sound of surprise. The group's immediate reaction was to reach for their weapons, but 009 quickly corrected them as he realised what had surprised him, upon the only response to their motion being a scared whimper and the sound of something moving back from them and huddling in the water.

"**Hold..."** he said, edging forward to peer curiously into the dark...there were eyes looking back at them, scared, lonely eyes... **"you're...what are you doing here...?... are you hiding here?"** 009 asked, the croaky, whispered voice of a young boy replying with a scared whimper.

"**a kid? what's a kid doing alone down here?"** Jet exclaimed in surprise, exchanging confused glances with 004 and 008. 003 quickly shushed the American, reminding him silently that they would be discovered if he didn't quiet down.

Joe turned to them with his arms folded and a quizzical expression on his face.

"**think about it, Jet...this city was just almost completely destroyed and creatures that look like something out of Doctor Who just appeared to kill anyone who survived...his parents are probably already dead..."** he said, looking rather worried. **"we can't just leave him here, the creatures will find him, we have to take him with us and keep him safe if we can"** 003 immediately agreed, not wishing anyone else to die unnecessarily.

Jet was object to the idea and 004 was at first skeptical of whether it would be MORE dangerous to take the boy with them than leaving him be, but in the end everyone agreed, by now the boy was standing more in the open, looking up at them with fearful blue eyes, his face and clothes smothered in blood that was clearly mostly not his own, lines running down his grimy cheeks, showing where tears had dribbled down his face.

"**you poor dear!"** Francoise whispered, walking over slowly and holding out her hand to the clearly shocked boy, who after shying back a moment, tentatively took her hand and after a moment standing there, he pulled her arm into a tight hug and skittered to her side, seeking protection...he looked no older than 7 years, his hair was a dark brown and his eyes blue.

"**p-please...d-don't let the m-m-monsters near me! p-please help me! I-I d-don't wanna stay here!"** he whimpered, shivering in terror.

"**don't worry, you're safe with us...do you have a name? I'm Francoise"** 003 soothed, gently urging the child to walk so that they could keep moving.

"**...I-I'm R-Rufus...th-thankyou for s-saving me..."** the young boy replied, following closely beside the blond woman. She had said then that it was very nice to meet him and had asked him if he was at all hurt or whether he was tired...she seemed very concerned for him...as he walked with her, Rufus kept glancing nervously over at her companions, some of whom seemed rather mancing to him...namely the silver-haired one with the cold, serious expression...surprisingly the really tall man seemed to have a very gently and welcoming face, giving the impression of a gentle giant...the one whom he had startled first seemed nice enough...having immediately calmed upon realising Rufus was there, rather than remaining suspicious. Every now and then the young man would turn and glance at the boy to see how he was faring, sometimes he would ask if he was alright or whether he was tired, seeming just as concerned as Francoise. At one point, the boy took on a curious expression, gazing around at the silent group who all wore the same, strange uniform...he turned his gaze to the one in front...the one whom he had identified as the leader of the group despite looking to be one of the youngest.

"**umm...h-hey mister...?"** the boy called, quietly, the young man glancing over his shoulder a moment before pausing a moment and falling into step beside the boy and Fracoise.

"**yes? is something wrong?"** he asked, glancing down at the boy occasionally, though his attention was largely focused on keeping a watch around them.

"**umm...I-I...w-wanted to ask a f-few q-questions..."** Rufus replied, earning a nod from the older man so as to say "go ahead". **"...f-firstly...wh-what's your n-n-name, mister?"** he asked, huddling close to Francoise's arm.

"**Joe. Joe Shimamura"** 009 replied, offering a soft smile which although it seemed to be genuinely warm and friendly, it seemed half-forced over the anxiety in his eyes.

"**...i-it's nice to m-meet you mr Joe..."** Rufus said, pausing a moment before asking his second question. **"umm...wh-who are all of you...?...you d-don't look like n-normal people..."** he asked, glancing over at the others as he asked the question. Joe looked a bit surprised by the question, but he replied quickly enough.

"**well, you don't have to call me 'mr', just Joe will do. as for who we are...well...no we aren't really nor-" **he cut off and froze on the spot, eyes widening as he sharply turned to look behind them into the darkness they had come from.

"**what's wrong, Joe?"** Jet asked, already hovering his hand over his gun.

"**shh, shh..."** he hushed, listening for a moment before muttering an expletive under his breath. **"get going, NOW"** he instructed, turning to gently push Francoise and boy forward before stopping and turning as the other moved ahead a moment before stopping.

"**Joe, what's happening?"** Francoise asked, worriedly.

"**GO, quickly! I'll catch up!"** he called, sounding particularly forceful. The others reluctantly obeyed the order and ran off down the tunnel, heading for the opening up ahead.

As they reached the opening and clambered up the debris to the light outside, there was a horrifying screech from the tunnel below...an unmistakable howl which made all the team stop dead. The screech was quickly followed by another, more pained one and a crushing noise, followed then by the unmistakable sound of water rushing violently into the tunnel.

"**ack! the roof caved!"** 007 exclaimed, the others all looking worried and 003 rushing back to the hole to call down for Joe.

When there was no reply and water could be seen flooding the inside of the tunnel, 008 stepped forwar. **"I'm going back for him, wait here you guys!"** with that, the African plunged into the water which had now almost completely filled the tunnel. He found the creatures sitting dead on the bottom of the tunnel...there was no wounds nor blood so he assumed perhaps they had drowned, for a moment he couldn't see any sign of Joe, until he moved a bit past the beasts, where he saw his comrade struggling to get his leg free from under the debris of the room that had caved. He headed over immediately, lifting the debris so that his friend could get free. They didn't take too long to get back to the others, though longer than either would have liked; where he had been caught under the collapsing roof, 009 wasn't as quick as he usually was.

When they finally surfaced, there was a collective sigh of relief from all of the cyborgs, having thought they might have lost their leader and friend for a second time.

"**you okay? we thought the worst when we heard that shrieking from down there!"** Jet asked, offering a hand to help his friend out of the hole, an offer which was accepted gratefully.

"**I'm alright, just a bit worn out and maybe some bruises...though I would prefer we didn't run into any more of those things for a while."** 009 huffed, sounding more worn out than he suggested. **"Luckily those things can't swim...1, they have nothing to paddle with 2, they're far too heavy, they couldn't get themselves off the bottom at all..."** he said, sitting down with a slight wince to take a quick breather. After that brief stop to let 009 rest a moment, they kept going, Rufus in tow. It worried 003 that Joe was now limping slightly from his injured leg, but he seemed to be okay so she didn't say anything. After a bit of skip-hopping over bits of rubble in the water and some discussion on the next route, the group had made it's way to the opposite side of the river, finally...but this was only half-way, and doubtlessly there would be more of the creatures here than the other part of the city. As for what to do about it, none of them were sure...


End file.
